43 How often do the following stakeholders ask SuDS to be included?


argue that we should not be putting up any further barriers to development. A quarter of our respondents 26 cited ‘reach- ing the overnment’s housing targets’ as a major barrier in addressing  ood risk in their developments.


SUSTAINABLE DRAINAGE SYSTEMS


Whatever the barriers, the need for sustainable drainage is clear. here is however  an existing set of solutions that can reduce the built environment’s impact to local  ood risk, while allowing for a continued pace of development.


uD cover a broad range of solutions  often replicating or mimicking natural processes, swales, for instance, direct rainwa- ter through soil and vegetation. ther common solutions include permeable paving, or green and ‘blue’ roofi ng, all of which aim to allow water to fi lter through otherwise impenetrable parts of a development.


y and large, uD focus on combatting the tendency of urban development to compromise the natural permeability of the ground. ut simply by IIA, the onstruction Industry esearch and Information Association, uD aim to capture, use, delay or absorb rainwater, rather than eject it as a nuisance or problem. urther, there are now many related products that can bolster the effectiveness of traditional drainage, with improved piping and drainage systems able to cope with higher levels of water runoff  especially useful in developments where other uD products may not be practicable.


LEGISLATION


Despite their now long-standing and proven effectiveness, the legislation around uD is less than clear, and largely toothless  though this is chie y ngland’s shortfall among  nations. cotland, orthern Ireland and Wales have all pushed far ahead with their policies on uD, including the 2016 Water and ewerage ervices Act in I, or the 200 Water nvironment


ontrolled Activities egulations in cotland. While the ational lanning olicy ramework  in ng- land states that uD should be included in all major housing developments, unless there is clear evidence that this would be inappropriate, the adjoining ational lanning olicy uid- ance  however states that compliance with the techni- cal standards is unlikely to be reasonably practicable if more expensive than complying with uilding egulations, meaning that all developers have to do to avoid changing their ways is to fi nd a cheaper alternative.


his means that it is often up to planners to advocate inclu- sion of uD in applications. Despite this, according to our research, less than half  of our respondents reported that planners ‘always’ ask for uD to be included, with  occa- sionally doing so, 10 rarely, and  never.


WHAT’S NEXT? While  ooding is already a serious issue at present in the , our changing climate is only going to bring further risks for people and property.


ur survey revealed that there is reason for hope, however, indicating that housebuilders and developers are becoming more accustomed to employing uD, and that awareness is rising of the future of  ooding and the changes that global warming will inevitably bring.


When asked, for example, if our respondents had become more aware of  ood risk management in recent years, a signif- icant majority  said yes, with just 1 saying no, and  saying they were unsure. When asked if this was because of increased climate change awareness, again,  said yes, with 1 saying no, and 6 unsure.


urther to this, when asked if our respondents believe that climate change will increase the need for uD systems in the  in the coming decades,  said yes, with just 6 saying no, and 11 being unsure.


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